Unnamed
by Foodie
Summary: Ginny and Neville prepare for the birth of their first child. What they weren't expecting, was having so much trouble coming up with a name.


This story was written for ElfFlame, for her birthday. It was her choice as to the theme, which ended up being "Ginny has her first baby." The name I chose for the baby is named for one of her all-time favorite tv characters, from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show I never watched, but she did. So, this is dedicated to ElfFlame. You know the drill, I own none of the characters in this, except for maybe the baby…Happy reading!

Unnamed

Ginny couldn't wait for her baby to be born. She was now so large that she could no longer fly on her broom. She hated not being able to play Quidditch anymore. She also hated having to use the loo every ten minutes, and having to waddle instead of walk properly. There was many a time that she questioned her mother's decision to endure this form of torture six times. It wasn't all torture, of course. There were joyous times as well, like when the baby kicked her belly, or got the hiccoughs and made her stomach jump.

Over the past month, she and Neville had worked together to prepare the baby's room. Since they had decided not to find out the gender, they were going to use Gryffindor colours for the room. They'd purchased a yellow bassinette with crimson blankets, a yellow wardrobe, a crimson throw rug, and a crimson and gold mobile with miniature snitches and brooms that flew around in a circle and played their old school favourite, "Weasley is Our King." They'd gotten a few books and toys as well, even though the baby wouldn't need them for a while.

Ginny would never admit it, but she'd quite enjoyed shopping for baby clothes. Nappies, nightgowns, booties, hats, she'd gotten them all from Wendy Carrington's Baby Shoppe in London. Everything had been handmade.

Every day Neville brought home something for the baby. "Honey, don't you think it's a bit early to buy the baby his first Herbology book? He's not even born yet," Ginny said with a grin as he'd proudly showed her the picture book of the ABC's of Herbology he'd found at Flourish and Blotts.

"I know," he'd replied with a shrug, "I just couldn't resist it when I saw it in the shop window."

Neville was very excited about the upcoming birth of his first child. He liked to sit during lunch at the professor's table at Hogwarts and imagine what his child would look like. Would he have red or blonde hair? Brown eyes or green? In the evenings when he returned from the school, he'd spend his time sitting on the sofa with Ginny in his arms. He'd rest his hands on her stomach and they'd talk about their child's future.

One of the most important discussions they'd had during these times, was what to name the baby. "What about Frank or Alice after your parents?" Ginny had suggested one night.

"Or what about naming the baby after somebody we're not related to? If it's a boy, we could name him after Harry."

"He'd be one of two hundred Harrys. That's the only problem with that name now."

"I suppose we should just wait until the baby is born and see what name comes to us then. At least we'll know if it's a boy or a girl…"

As the weeks drew closer to the birth, both parents grew restless and worrisome. They'd finished the series of birthing classes they'd taken on Saturdays for the last month and a half, and had made plans to have Madam Pomfrey come to their house to act as midwife when the time came, and now, there was nothing to do but wait.

The Weasleys were also growing antsy with anticipation. It was hardly the first grandchild that would be born to Molly and Arthur, but they'd only had grandsons so far. There was a great sense of expectation over whether or not this child would end that pattern. Molly in particular, was hoping for a granddaughter. She'd helped them think of names and had knitted clothes for the baby with pink yarn. "You can change it to blue if it's a boy, but this way if it's a girl, she can wear it straight away," she'd explained.

Arthur had a more philosophical approach to the baby's gender. "Boy or girl, it doesn't really matte as long as he or she's a good Quidditch player," he said one evening when he and Molly had come to dinner. "And as long as he or she makes Gryffindor. I still can't believe that Pierre made Ravenclaw," he said incredulously as he talked about Bill and Fleur's eldest son.

"Well, we'll love our baby no matter if it's a boy or a girl, a star Quidditch player, or a lousy one. And I think we'll even love it if it makes Slytherin, right honey?" Neville had replied with a smile.

"Of course!" Ginny agreed.

Finally, the baby's due date arrived. Both Ginny and Neville were nervous and excited about the birth, but nothing happened. They went to sleep that night with no new developments.

Three days passed with no baby being born. Ginny was beside herself with frustration over this situation. "I want this kid out of me now!" she shouted one night at dinner. "I put in my time, it's supposed to be over!"

Neville wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, dear. I can't imagine what you must be going through," he said sympathetically.

That night, Ginny and Neville made love for the final time as a parentless couple. Part way through the night, Ginny woke up and bent over, breathless from the powerful cramps that crashed through her body like waves on a beach. She groaned, which woke up her husband.

Neville saw his wife and hopped out of bed. "OK, Ginny, OK, stay calm, don't worry, everything's going to be all right," he cried while attempting to put on his pants and shoes at the same time, but only managed to end up in a tangle on the floor. He jumped up and ran towards the door. "I'll go get Madam Pomfrey, I'll be right back. Don't panic!" he cried while running out towards the living room.

Ginny tried to breathe calmly as she stood up and began to pace the floor. She was panting and moaning quietly when Neville and Madam Pomfrey came into the room. "I called the family, they're on their way over," Neville said as he walked over to his wife and wrapped his arm around her waist. Ginny nodded her head silently while concentrating on the task at hand.

"How long have you been having contractions, dear?" Poppy Pomfrey asked while taking her wand out of her robes.

"I woke up about ten minutes ago from them," Ginny said with a groan.

"Well why don't you lie back down on the bed and I can examine you," Poppy said while patting the bed. "I need to see how far along you are."

Ginny waddled over to the bed and sat down. It took her a minute to get into a lying down position. She was in too much pain to feel any sense of self-consciousness about letting Poppy examine her. At that point in time, she didn't care who had to look at her or examine her, she just wanted the baby out.

"Oh my, you're almost fully dilated. You must have been in labour for quite some time in your sleep before you woke up," Poppy said. "Did you do anything strenuous last night?"

Ginny glanced at Neville, who turned beet red and coughed self-consciously. Poppy saw this and nodded her head knowingly. "That would do it," she murmured. "Well, you've another few centimetres to go, so why don't you stand up and walk around again. That will help. Are you in a lot of pain? I can give you a potion for the pain."

Ginny stood up again and took a few steps before grimacing and nodding her head. Neville rushed over to her side and held out his arm to support her. Poppy reached into her healer's bag and pulled out a vial containing a tranquil blue liquid. She poured a small amount into a glass and handed it to Ginny to drink. "There you go dear, this should help."

Ginny drank the potion in one gulp, and could barely notice its faint anise flavour through the contraction, but within seconds, the pain subsided, and she felt much more at ease. Slowly, after a few deep breaths, she and Neville began to walk around the room. Commotions from outside the door told them the family was arriving.

When Ginny and Neville walked into the living room, they were greeted by almost the entire Weasley clan. Molly jumped up from the sofa and hugged them. Arthur was holding some sort of Muggle contraption up to his eye. "I think it's working," he said while standing up and holding the object out towards his daughter. "It's called a video recorder. It's making a picture that moves and makes sounds inside of it right now," he explained while looking into the viewfinder. "We'll be able to watch this over and over again."

Molly frowned and put her hand out to bat the recorder away. "For goodness sake, Arthur, put that toy away," she cried shrilly. "This is not time for such antics."

Arthur looked hurt, and frowned. "I thought it might be a good way to remember this by…" he replied as he moved away from his wife and continued to record.

"So, any last bets?" Fred called out as he walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of food. "You didn't want this chicken did you?" he asked Neville while sitting down on the sofa.

Neville looked at the leftover roast game hen, and shook his head. "Go ahead," he replied a second after Fred took a large bite.

Charlie sat down next to Fred and began to eat off his plate, causing Fred to swat at his brother's hand to keep him from eating all of the potato crisps. "Go get your own, they have two other bags in the kitchen," he finally said.

"So, Ginny, when do you think the baby will be born?" George asked while looking at what appeared to be a tally sheet. "And how much do you think the baby will weigh? How about you Neville?"

Ginny, while no longer in great pain, was still far from comfortable. "Why?" she snapped, "I'm sure this has something to do with that stupid bet you've got going on, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," George replied while looking over to see his father recording their exchange. "It was your idea after all."

"Well I don't want to deal with it now!" Ginny cried before turning to walk away, but running into her dad on accident instead. "Dad! Will you please go over there?" she said while pointing to the other side of the room.

"It sounds like somebody needs to start practicing her breathing," Percy said smugly. "You know, Penny did wonderfully during her first childbirth. She never snapped once."

"How convenient she's at home with the kids, and can't prove you wrong," Ron called out from the chair he was sitting in. Percy glared at him for a moment before walking over to Bill and talking to him.

Ginny took Neville by the arm and led him to the doorway. "Why did you invite all of the family?" she hissed.

Neville bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders. "They all wanted to come," he whispered in reply. "I could hardly tell them 'no'."

"Well they'd better not try to be in the room when I deliver," she snapped. "I love my family, but sometimes they're just too much."

"Why don't we go check in with Poppy, you might be ready now," he said calmly, trying to ease the situation. "You go ahead, I'll tell the family to wait where they are."

Ginny was lying on the bed by the time Neville returned. "It's time," Poppy said while helping her move into a comfortable position. "Neville, I want you to stand behind Ginny and hold her hand while she pushes."

Neville moved behind his wife, and took her hand in his. "Are you ready for this?" he whispered in her ear.

"There's no turning back now," Ginny whispered in return. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Poppy moved down in front of Ginny, and positioned her knees to ease the pushing. She explained to Ginny everything that needed to be done. "You'll need to remember your breathing, that's very important," she instructed. "When you feel the next contraction start, you can begin to push."

Ginny closed her eyes, and squeezed Neville's hand. She concentrated on her breathing, and waited for the sensation of the next contraction. After a minute, she began to feel the muscles in her abdomen grow tense. She continued to breathe, and when the tension in her body was at its greatest, she began to push.

"Good job, Ginny, keep going," Poppy called out before beginning to count to ten. "All right, you can stop now. That was a good push. Wait for the next contraction and try again."

The next contraction came a few seconds later. Ginny pushed as hard as she could, and was exhausted when she'd finished. She'd had no idea labour could be this tiring. How had her mother managed to do it six times? What strength it took.

After a while, the contractions never ended, and Poppy was telling her to continue pushing constantly, while breathing at the same time. "You're doing great, Ginny," Neville said to her while she was in the middle of pushing.

"I can see the head!" Poppy called out. "Keep pushing, you're almost there!"

Ginny cried out as she felt a pain crash through her body. "The potion-it's-it's-running-out!" she gasped.

"Keep going!" Poppy said, "It's too late for more medicine now."

As the pain grew stronger, Ginny had a harder time concentrating on her breathing. Neville noticed this, and squeezed her hand again. "Come on, Ginny, you're doing fine, you're almost there," he said calmly. "Breathe with me." He began to breathe the way they'd been taught, and Ginny, hearing this, concentrated on the sound, and matched hers to his. She used this to calm herself down, and begin pushing again.

"Good! The head is almost out!" Poppy cried. Ginny pushed again really hard, until Poppy interrupted her. "The head is out! One more good push ought to do it!"

Ginny took a deep breath, and pushed again. She felt like she had no more energy left in her body, but with whatever strength she could muster, she pushed.

"All right, that's it, now, stop pushing," Poppy ordered as Ginny relaxed her body. The urge to continue pushing was great, but she forced herself not to while the healer worked quickly at her task.

Poppy was trying to help ease the baby's shoulders out of Ginny, and once they were free, she told her to push one last time. Ginny did so, and the baby slipped out, into Poppy's waiting arms. "She's out!" she cried while rushing the baby over to a table to wash her and check her.

"She? You said she; it's a girl?" Neville asked hurriedly.

"Yes, a healthy, beautiful girl," Poppy said while cleaning out the baby's nose and mouth. When she'd finished, she picked her up, and slapped her on the bottom. The baby began to shriek, a sound both Ginny and Neville found to be the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Neville, come here and cut the cord," Poppy called out. He was at her side within seconds, and looked down at his daughter. Even though she was red from shrieking, he thought she was the prettiest baby there ever was, and ever would be. His daughter. His very own, actual daughter. He was a father now. As he took his wand out to cut the cord, he felt tears begin to sting his eyes.

"Hurry up, Nev, I want to see my baby!" Ginny cried. "Come on!"

Neville blinked the tears away, and pointed his wand at the umbilical cord. "Perseco," he murmured, and in a second, the cord had been cut and sealed. Poppy wrapped the baby in a blanket, and Neville picked her up and walked her over to his wife.

Ginny held out her arms as Neville set the baby in them. The baby was still shrieking, but within seconds of settling down into her mother's arms, she began to calm down. "Oh my baby," Ginny whimpered as tears flowed down her face. All the months of swollen ankles, cravings, and mood swings, and the pain of giving birth washed away as she looked into the face of her daughter. She had delicate features, bright pink bow-shaped lips, and the faintest wisps of red hair on her head. Her clear blue eyes looked with wonder at the woman holding her.

"She's beautiful," Poppy said as she finished cleaning Ginny and putting a blanket over her. "And you did just wonderfully."

Neville sat down on the bed next to his wife, and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. The new family shared a minute of silence before it was shattered by the bedroom door slamming open.

"I heard crying, is the baby born yet?" Ron said while walking over to the bed and sitting on the end.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" George asked as he looked at his tally sheet.

"I dunno, but it's another red-head!" Fred added with a grin.

"It's a girl," Neville replied in a whisper while motioning to the family to keep their voices down.

"Oh, a girl! My first granddaughter!" Molly cried before bursting into tears. "Let me get a good look at her."

Arthur taped this while walking over and putting his arm around his wife. "She really is a beauty, isn't she?" he whispered.

The family fell into a peaceful silence, something unheard of for the Weasleys. It was very early in the morning, and they were all tired, and the adrenaline was beginning to wear off.

"What are you going to name her?" Percy finally asked.

"I don't know yet," Ginny replied as she gazed at her now-sleeping daughter. "We'll figure it out though, but for now, I need to sleep."

Molly gave her daughter a hug and kissed her forehead before ushering the family out of the room. "All right everybody, it's bedtime," she said before shutting the door.

Poppy was still in the room, and gave the new parents a few last instructions before taking her leave as well.

Neville climbed into bed, and within minutes, all three were sound asleep.

The next morning, Ginny slept in until the baby began to cry. "I think she's hungry," she said groggily while pulling down her nightgown and making her first attempt at breast-feeding. She'd read about how to do it in books, and her birthing classes had gone over feeding techniques as well, but it turned out it wasn't quite as easy as it seemed. She eventually caught the hang of it, though.

Neville insisted on changing the baby's nappies and burping her, so Ginny could catch up with her sleep. "I was thinking we could visit my parents in the next day or two. I want to introduce them to her," he said as she drifted back to sleep.

By the time Ginny woke up later that afternoon, she began to feel panicked that her daughter didn't have a name. "We have to name her, she can't go for much longer without a name," she insisted.

The next morning, the family packed up for a visit to St. Mungo's. "We'll have to go visit my parents when we're done at the hospital. I know they're not going to be able to stay way much longer," Ginny said while cradling the baby in her arms.

Neville nodded his head as he carried the baby's nappy bag and car seat out of the house to the car. He was glad at that moment that he'd taken driving lessons, for there was no way he was going to floo with his infant daughter to the hospital. It was far too dangerous.

When Ginny and the baby were settled in the car, Neville turned on the invisibility booster, and turned the car on to its flying mode. Ginny laughed each time she thought of the trouble her brother and Harry Potter had gotten into for using features on a Muggle car that were now standard in the ones sold in the Wizarding World.

The car ride took a little under an hour to get to London. Ginny sat in the back with her daughter, making sure she was safe. She gently picked her up, and carried her to the hospital entrance when they arrived. Within minutes, they were inside the hospital, and walking up to the floor that Neville's parents lived on.

Neville visited his parents at least once a month, and had been happy and proud to see the progress they'd made in the years since the war. While they would probably never regain their normal level of competence, they were able to speak a little more than he'd remembered growing up. He was able to hold conversations with his parents now, when he'd never been able to before. His mother, especially, had rather long periods of lucidity, before falling back behind her veil of fog and silence. Those were the moments Neville hated the most, knowing that his mother no longer knew him.

His parents were no different this day. Alice puttered around the room quietly, putting gum wrappers in his hand, and smiling sweetly. Frank looked out the window, not noticing that he had visitors.

Ginny walked up to Alice, and put her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Hello Alice," she said quietly. Alice grinned before noticing the tiny bundle in Ginny's arms. Ginny held the baby out for her to look at. "Neville and I came today to show you our daughter. You and Frank are grandparents," she said slowly.

Alice nodded her head, and reached out to pat the baby's face. "Baby," she murmured.

"Yes, it's a baby," Neville said. "We haven't named her yet. We just can't seem to agree on anything."

Alice furrowed her brow. "Baby needs name," she declared.

Frank, who was looking out the window at the trees swaying in the breeze, called out to them for the first time that day. "Willow," he said.

"What dad?" Neville asked.

"Willow." Frank pointed to a tree outside the window before turning his attention back to it.

"Willow…" Ginny whispered while looking at the baby.

Neville and Ginny stayed for an hour or so before a nurse came in to give Frank and Alice their lunches. Ginny walked behind a screen in the room and fed the baby before they left.

Once in the car, she spoke again. "Nev, what do you think of the name Willow?" she asked casually.

Neville looked thoughtful for a moment before turning around and gazing at the sleeping child. "It is a nice name…" he replied.

The two talked about names for the rest of the ride to the Burrow before settling on a name. They took the baby into the house, and saw the rest of the family waiting for them.

"Well, did you decide on a name yet?" Molly asked after taking their coats and putting them on the coat rack.

Ginny nodded her head. "We'll tell everybody when we get into the living room. We'll introduce her properly to everybody," she replied.

When everybody was seated as quietly as possible, Neville picked up his daughter and turned her to face the crowd. "I would like to introduce you all, to our daughter…Willow Danielle Longbottom," he said with a smile.

The family broke into cheers and applause as Ginny took Willow and walked to each person, introducing her to them. As they all got a good look at her, they could tell she would make a great addition to the ever-growing Weasley clan.

A/N: Title is taken from a line from Romeo and Juliet.


End file.
